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Archive for December, 2010

As British holidaymakers prepared to head for the slopes for 2011, new research from the Foreign Office revealed that almost a third of people in the UK admitted to not taking out travel insurance for their winter sports holidays. In addition, less than one in five people (16%) said they always read the small print of their travel insurance policy before going skiing. The Foreign Office have also issued a warning to skiers and snowboarders that they risked huge medical bills if they weren’t properly covered by travel insurance. Their examples highlight the average cost in Andorra for a leg injury and repatriation to be £6500 rising to a whopping £28,000 for the same injury in Canada!

Everyone appreciates the thrills of Wintersports but not everyone appreciates the dangers that are associated with it. The Ski Club of Great Britain has reported in the past that more than half of British skiers take to the slopes without a ski helmet, despite the risks of sustaining a serious head injury. Head injuries account for almost a quarter of all ski injuries sustained on the slopes. Research in Canada and Sweden has also found that snowboarders are up to four times more likely to have an accident on the slopes than skiers, while men are more likely to get injured than women.

Alarm bells should be ringing here, not just against the rise in the accident rate on the slopes but also that a high number of people are still going abroad without any travel insurance. Whether this is just forgetfulness or a desire to live dangerously, it is shows that many people view travel insurance as an extra expense which can be added or deleted depending on the holiday budget.

But with price of travel insurance premiums, particularly on the internet, being relatively cheap – you can find a week’s Winter Sports cover to Europe for under £10, it does seem to be an unnecessary risk to take. It is not necessary to pay through the nose these days and if you are prepared to surf the net then there some excellent deals to be had.

With this month registering as the coldest December since 1910, the plunging temperatures have seen Eurostar services to Europe either delayed or cancelled. The delays have been caused by speed restrictions on both sides of the Channel due to the freezing temperatures. Trains could only run at 105mph, rather than the normal speed of 190mph.

This in turn led to 25 per cent of services being cancelled, with the problems exacerbated by hundreds of stranded airline passengers trying to grab last-minute rail tickets.

For those caught up in this unexpected travel delay, you can limit the financial loss by taking out adequate travel insurance which will provide financial cover and compensation if caught up in such events. To start with, all travel insurance policies should have a travel delay section, generally to pay a fixed amount for each 6, 12 or 24 hours delay experienced. This is what is termed as a benefit so does not require receipts to claim but you will need a note from the Rail Company or station, such as St Pancras if departing from the UK, to confirm the number of hours delayed.

Secondly, most travel insurance policies will have a section for Abandonment. This is just another term for cancellation which permits the traveller, once they have experienced the required number of hours travel delay, to cancel their travel and holiday in its entirety and claim back the costs. Whether you choose this option will depend on many factors, such as the length of your trip away, how long the delay will be and personal preference but it is a very valuable addition to have in any travel insurance policy.